In my opinion, John Lennon and Yoko Ono are the musical equivalent of Liz & Dick. Are there people who have heard of one person without also knowing the second? I bring this up because this week is the 44th anniversary of the wedding of John and Yoko. They evidently met in London in 1968; Yoko and Paul give different versions of how John initially met her. Yoko had been married twice before; John was in the midst of separating from his first wife, Cynthia. As soon as this divorce was final, he married Yoko. Their partnership-marriage had a lasting effect on the Beatles, and therefore on pop culture in general. For the last year or so of the Beatles' existence, Yoko Ono was there. Some say she helped break up the band, and although it seems easy to attribute blame to an "outsider," the true story is probably a little bit more complicated.
As it was, the courtship and honeymoon between John and Yoko was presented to the world in the song, "The Ballad of John and Yoko." It was written immediately after the incidences it is about, and was a Top Ten hit single in the summer of 1969. At this time John and Yoko were in the midst of their second bed-in in Canada.
John recorded several albums and songs with his wife. "Number 9" on The Beatles (The White Album) was by them, for example. Their most famous work is probably "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" from 1971. And of course, Yoko's presence was keen on their last recordings, Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey, although none of the singles from this period were actual duets between them.
To help celebrate one of the truly great pop cultural marriages, here are The Beatles (really only John and Paul) singing, "The Ballad of John and Yoko."
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